“You were dead through the trespasses and sins in which you once lived, following the
course of this world, following the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work
among those who are disobedient. All of us once lived among them in the passions of our
flesh, following the desires of flesh and senses, and we were by nature children of nature like everybody else.” (Ephesians2:1ff)
When man fell and went astray, hopelessly lost and even unaware that he had a direction, goal and purpose for living, God in Christ emptied Himself, as St. Paul put it so clearly. But when Christ came to put it aright, offering a new and glorious way back to the Father, and when He ascended from the earth, then the Holy Spirit descended upon the earth. This descent is connected with the Incarnation, and is indeed the proper corollary to Christ’s life on earth.
We are united to Christ by His glorious incarnation, which is the consciousness of His presence in us of a new power that comes from His greater self, and because of that heavenly power or grace, we discover new opportunities within ourselves. This inspiration, meaning literally the Spirit of God within us, comes from union in Christ by the Holy Spirit. This is what it is like to receive the Spirit of God.
When we gaze with new understanding at the incomprehensible icon of the Holy Trinity written by St. Andrew Rublev, that meaning slowly dawns on us. Christ’s journey to Jerusalem did not start in Galilee. It did not begin the moment St. Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, identified Jesus as the long-awaited Messiah, it did not begin in the wilderness when He took on the devil and won a temporary victory, it did not begin at the shore of the Jordan River, nor in Nazareth, nor in Bethlehem. It began long before the universe came into being, even before that time described in the first paragraph of the Bible, when the universe was “without form and void, when darkness covered the face of the deep.” Before anything was, before all matter, the Holy Trinity understood that if they were to create the being that would eventually grow to the capacity to accept and return divine friendship and love, God Himself would have a price to pay to make it happen.
At the Incarnation the Holy Spirit descended on the maiden, Mary. Here was her own Pentecost, the Pentecost of the Mother of God. She was blessed to become our Lord’s Mother, yet she too shared in the Pentecost of all human beings at the Third Hour of the fiftieth day after Christ’s holy Resurrection. And what an event that was! They, good devout Jews who knew their Bible by heart, had to take into account the turnaround of the Babel tower event. Those men, daring to invade heaven itself and lay claim to the realm of God were thwarted and defeated by losing the ability to communicate with one another. Always the way of Satan is to fragment, to divide, and to separate men against each other, and a human being against himself.
On that first Pentecost the tongues of fire, following the rushing of wind and the mighty sound of it, did not destroy the uniqueness of each person present, but rather enhanced their idiosyncratic gifts from God. They realized the overwhelming joy of newness, and the ability to speak in other tongues. The division of Babel was overcome.
Now we may no longer be bearers of the same fire that was made manifest on that day; never-theless, everything that takes place in the Holy Church reflects the outpouring of the Holy Spirit: Each newly baptized person is sealed with the gift of the Holy Spirit. Indeed, all of our holy mysteries have in common the grace of the Holy Spirit bestowed upon those who are beneficiaries of divine grace. That grace is given to us, but we must realize it, recognize it, welcome it, and most of all make ourselves ready to receive it. The Holy Spirit will never violate our freedom—we have the opportunity to reject the Spirit, because we must by ourselves and for ourselves want it more than anything that this world has to offer. In the Church the Holy Spirit strives to build up the Body of Christ. He offers a gift of grace, so that we may receive the Kingdom of Heaven in all glory.